What Do You Call Someone From France? (Answered!)

Someone from France is called French. Citizens of France, whatever their specific national or ethnic origin may be, are called French or French people. This is the simple answer, but the reality is a bit more complex; French speaking people are spread across the world and France itself is highly ethnically diverse.

French is a simple adjective for a person who comes from France.

They may feel many other things to be true of their own identity, but in the modern, legal sense of someone’s nationality, French is the word that would be used.

It’s never as simple as this in reality and the question of French people is a fascinating one, so let’s find out more.

In This Article

What is someone from France called?

Someone from France is called French.

This is the simplest way to answer what is a deceptively complex question.

Let’s first look at it from the simple point of view of the modern legal sense.

The idea of the nation state is a relative recent invention in history, and this tends to be how we view national identity today.

We all have various citizenships, and this tends to be how we define where we come from and what we would be called.

The demonym, then, for the country of France is just French.

Whether you’re an immigrant or someone descended from the Gauls, you are French if you have French citizenship.

There are, though, multiple different ethnic groups living in France.

With that said, around 77% of the population of France are ethnically French, which generally means that they descend from the ancient inhabitants of Central Europe which today are known as Gauls.

This was the Roman name for these people, and though they were ruled by the Romans, they were not supplanted or wiped out.

There are many other ethnic groups that constitute the French population, though.

Most of them are quite small, though there are many of them; the largest is the Algerian and Moroccan Berber groups, many of whom live in France today due to historical colonial ties.

These people may consider themselves French or something else entirely.

Equally, you have populations of Italian, Portuguese, Moroccan Arabs and Flemings, among others, living in France.

All of these groups, the individuals in them, from a legal point of view, are French—they live in France.

At the same time, their own ethnic identity may be more important to them than their national one.

Where, then, does the idea of “France” come from?

Where does the name “France” come from?

In English, the term “France” derives from the Franks, which was ultimately a Medieval Latin word.

The word in Latin was Francia, coming from Francus, meaning a Frank.

It is much more common in history that a place was named after the people who lived there, rather than the other way around.

France is itself found in Old French which was then eventually borrowed into Old English in the same way.

It was the Franks who conquered Celtic Gaul in the 6^th Century, and as we have seen already they did not entirely supplant the local population.

It is often a misconception that invasions are what lead to the changing populations, and while Gaul certainly was conquered by the Franks, the two populations plainly were assimilated rather than one being wiped out.

The name of the Franks was related in English to the word “free,” also having the sense of noble or sincere.

The ultimate etymology of the word Frank, though, is uncertain; traditionally derived from the Proto-Germanic Frankon, relating to a weapon the Franks often used, a javelin.

What does France call themselves?

The standard way to refer to France in French is la France.

The actual name of the country, then, is really not different; the language, though, is Francais in French.

Similarly, the name they have for themselves is just les Francais.

This can change slightly depending on gender cases, but it is the basic way French people refer to themselves.

But French people don’t only live in France.

Where do the French live?

It depends how you define the French.

There is, first of all, a widespread French diaspora living across the world.

There are huge numbers of French people living in the Americas, including around 9 million in the United States and around 6 million living in Argentina.

There are also around 3 million living in the United Kingdom, and around 1 million living in Brazil.

However, France’s colonial history also means we have French Canadians and people of French descent living in many places like former colonies. Chad, Algeria, the Central African Republic—most of the people in these nations would not consider themselves to be French, though many are French speaking.

It’s a fairly complex question, then, when France has touched so many corners of the world in its history.

There around 100 million total French people in the world today, with around 67 million of those living in France itself.

So, the question is a complex one, but the simple answer is just that a person from France is called French.

Any given French person may feel some other part of their identity to be the true forefront of who they are, while their legal nationality is French.

At the same time, people all over the world may also consider themselves to be French in some way, or on the other hand to active reject that part of their heritage.

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Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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